Tag Archives: Tipo 151

Beast Of Surbiton – Cooper Monaco T61P

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In 1962 Bruce McLaren raced the rear 4 cylinder Coventry Climax engined Cooper Monaco T61 for the first time. It is not clear if the first appearance was in Canada where there was an entry but no known result or in the USA where Bruce finished 4th in the Riverside Grand Prix.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The following year an improved Cooper Monaco ‘T61M’ was raced by 1959 Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori driving for CT Atkins to at least five wins in 1963.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Roger “The Captain” Penske and Skip Hudson had Chevrolet V8’s fitted to their 61M’s and each won at least one race towards the end of of ’63 and early ’64 respectively, while the real T61M success story was Carrol Shelby who bought two T61M’s and fitted them with Cobra 289 V8’s and called them King Cobra’s one of which Dave McDonald drove to win the 1963 USRRC Pro Sports Car Championship.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Micheal O'Shea, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

For 1964 CT Atkins and Roy Salvadori hatched a plan to build a T61 and fit a Maserati Tipo 151 5 litre 302 cui V8. This car became the unique T61P Cooper Maserati featured today.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Too cope with the expected 430hp the teams mechanic Harry Pearce strengthened the chassis by welding and riveting a 20 guage steel sheet to the underside of the chassis frame.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Silverstone

Just as with the original Cooper Monaco T61 the debut of the T61P is unclear some sources show the car started at Oulton Park in 1964 but the result is unknown others show Roy drove the car to a second place finish at the 16th International Trophy meeting run at Silverstone.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Roy drove the T61P to victory in the 1964 Whitsun trophy at Goodwood and his only other result was a third place finish in the 1964 British Grand Prix meeting at Brands Hatch. After two further retirements CT Atkins closed his team down.

Contemporary accounts all describe the handling of the T61P as wild, possibly due to the weight of the 20 guage steel under tray and absence of any suspension geometry adjustments to compensate.

The car has since had it’s handling sorted and is seen above at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed with owner Micheal O’Shea at the wheel.

Thanks for joining me on this “Beast Of Surbiton” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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ALFA Screen – Maserati Tipo 151 #151.006

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In order to compete in the top 4.0 litre / 244 cui GT Prototype Class in the 1962 Le Mans 24 hours Briggs Cunningham and Frances Maserati agent John Simone funded the production of 3 Tipo 151’s.

Ing. Giulio Alfieri abandoned the Birdcage construction of his Tipo 60/61 models and returned to using large tube chassis construction as had been used on the one off Maserati 450S, the 151’s body featured a proprietary windscreen sourced from the ALFA Romeo Giuleitta Sprint Speciale parts bin.

Maserati Tipo 151, Colasacco / Hill, Goodwood Revival

Briggs Cunningham entered two of the Tipo 151’s, chassis 151.004 and 151.006 seen here, and Maserati France chassis 151.002 for the ’62 Le Mans 24 hours.

William Kimberly and Dick Thompson driving #151.006 qualified 3rd behind the Ferrari 330 TRI driven by eventual winners Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill and the 330 GTO driven by Mike Parkes and Lorenzo Bandini.

Maserati Tipo 151, Colasacco / Hill, Goodwood Revival

During the race William and Dick completed 62 laps before a brake issue caused Dick to crash and retire, the Maserati France car driven by Maurice Trintignant and Lucien Bianchi was withdrawn after 152 laps because the suspension was causing the rear tyres to wear out every 10 laps. The second Cunningham 151 driven by Walt Hangsen and Bruce McLaren retired after completing 177 laps with a blown motor.

#151.006 was then driven in two US events by Augie Pabst whose best result was a 7th place in the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside. Bev Spencer then bought the car for Stan Peterson to drive in the ’62 SCCA meeting at Vacaville, however Stan crashed in the qualifying race and after it was repaired Bev sold the car to Skip Hudson whose best result, from three known starts, was a 3rd place in an SCCA race at Cotati in May 1963.

Joe Colasacco and Derek Hill were drove #151.006, now owned by Lawrence Auriana when it was photographed during practice for the RAC TT Celebration races at Goodwood in 2011 and 2012.

Thanks for joining me on this “ALFA Screen” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a French WM Le Mans entry. Don’t forget to come back now !

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